Beale community stands down / Citizens prevail in fight to keep Air Force base

Greg Lucas, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published
4:00 am PDT, Saturday, May 14, 2005

2005-05-14 04:00:00 PDT Sacramento -- Yuba and its neighboring counties breathed a deep sigh of relief Friday when Beale Air Force base -- the largest employer between here and the Oregon border -- was kept off the base closure list.

The operations for the base, which employs 4,463 military personnel and 1, 286 civilians, represent 34 percent of Yuba County's gross product. It was slated to lose only 179 employees and eight reserve fueling planes in 2009.

"Sixty days ago, we expected the base to be closed," said Tim Johnson, president of the Yuba-Sutter Economic Development Corporation, which spearheaded a two-year drive to keep the base open, including an aerial photo of citizens spelling out "Save Beale!" on a football field that appeared in publications around the country.

"I honestly believe if we had not done the sophomoric activities (and) the serious advocacy in Washington, getting 30,000 letters to the governor, we would be closed," Johnson said.

Although the Department of Defense offered no reasons for Beale's continued existence, Johnson and other residents say it is the base's unique mission -- and its location -- that may have been key.

The 23,000-acre base, 15 miles east of Yuba City, is the only Air Force base in the country that focuses solely on gathering intelligence. It is home to the nation's 30 U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance jets.

The base's PAVE PAWS warning system sweeps the Pacific Ocean looking for intercontinental ballistic missiles and tracks space debris orbiting the earth, the only such system on the West Coast.

From the base, pilots operate Global Hawks, unmanned reconnaissance planes, which can fly continuously for 36 hours and are being used in Iraq.

"We fly combat missions out here every day," said Capt. Mike Andrews, the base's public affairs officer. "People don't realize the impact Beale has on the global war on terror."

Johnson said the Beale Regional Alliance, which his corporation helped create, focused its argument for keeping Beale open on its strategic significance.

"Most communities went the opposite way. We wanted the Defense Department to see the value of Beale to them," Johnson.

The base's payroll is $206 million, Andrews said. Payroll, job creation and expenditures annually pump $401 million into the local economy.

"In a rural area like this, it would have been years to recover from the devastation of the loss of Beale," said Bob Barkhouse, a former mayor of Yuba City.

Andrews praised the local residents for their defense of the base.

"We're very thankful for their efforts, and it probably did help," Andrews said. "It's an amazing relationship between us and the community. It's the best relationship I've ever seen between a base and a community."

Unlike most Air Force bases, which are named after famous pilots, Beale is named for one of California's largest landowners of the 19th century, Edward Fitzgerald Beale, who died in 1893 and led the abortive effort to replace Army mules with camels.